1/19 Watchlist: Whipsaw Fever, Nothing is Forever

The blue chip stocks (SPY) are showing a pps bull signal, after they showed a pps bear signal just one trading day prior, and have retraced all of the loss they showed on the day before the long holiday weekend. This is the Mother of All Whipsaws. It certainly justifies my cautious stance on Friday.

Also goes to show, in the markets, nothing is forever. Ever.

The other indicators: The same as I noted in the Morningline, except more so.

Here's what's interesting in high-volume . . .

. . . exchange-traded funds (ETFs): QQQQ, which tracks the NASDAQ, shows a pps bull signal as a companion to that shown by SPY Otherwise, just a whole lot of retracement going on. It's as though Tuesday were a mirror image of Friday. . . . corporate shares: MSFT, trending up, is approaching resistance on the second trading day after a bull signal. The level is identical to a top set in January 2007. The stochastic has moved into bull territory, and the macd is approaching it. The mfi, however, is meandering in the middle. If MSFT bumps past 31.5, I'm interested as a bull play.

• AAPL shows a bull signal in an uptrend with a 2.9 percent increase from today's open. The news folks say it's because the company is going to release a tablet computer (but that's stale news). No confirmation from the macd, stochastic or mfi. However, the price has bounced off the Bollinger middle line and prices are above the major top set in December 2007 and May 2008. Needs watching.
• QCOM is showing a bull signal on the second trading day after a bear. The other indicators are sort of moving in the opposite direction. It is an uptrending stock, however, that stands right at resistance. I think it has about 10 percent upside if it can break through 50 decisively.
• HPQ shows a bull signal in an uptrend on the 11th day of sideways meandering in bear mode. The stochastic and macd are moving toward bull territory, and the Bollinger bands are narrowing, an indication of change ahead (often). HPQ, at 52.75, now stands at about the same level of a major  top set in Nov. 2007. If it moves above that, it could have clear sailing up to the high set in April 2000.
  
• HUM, at just below 51 two days after a bull signal, has bumped past near-term resistance as it approaches earnings on Feb. 1. If it can clear resistance, it could have a shot at 68 or so.
• TGT, with a bull signal, has bumped resistance at around 52.70, and clearing that it could have a shot at 70. But, there's a lot congestion at these levels, so it may have a very hard time pushing through. 

Bottom line: I like these corporates as bull plays, but not quite yet.




New to Private Trader? Check out the Reader's Guide.

Topics:
S&P 500, SPDR, Spiders, NASDAQ technology, Apple computers macintosh, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Hewlett-Packard, Humana, Target.